


But I Would Die For You In Secret

by Jen425



Series: This Kills The Woz [1]
Category: Kamen Rider - All Media Types, Kamen Rider Zi-O, Tokusatsu
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29027796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jen425/pseuds/Jen425
Summary: Geiz moves quickly. Woz moves faster.
Relationships: Tokiwa Sougo/Woz
Series: This Kills The Woz [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129505
Comments: 9
Kudos: 20
Collections: Killing a character once a month of 2021





	But I Would Die For You In Secret

**Author's Note:**

> Written for “killing a character a month”
> 
> First prompts is “Switching Places”. I chose for Woz to die in Geiz’s stead during the finale, which changes both nothing and everything.

There’s a blast, and Geiz moves quickly.

Woz moves quicker.

  
  
  


_ Before the battle, Woz confronts Decade. _

_ “I know what your plan entails, Decade,” Woz says, glaring at the other Rider. Decade turns to him, an unreadably complex expression in his eyes. _

_ “Do you?” He asks. _

_ “My demon King’s death,” Woz says bluntly. “I cannot allow it.” _

_ “Ah,” Decade says. “But can you stop it?” _

_ There isn’t cruelty in his tone, there, just… sadness. Memories. Woz knows Decade’s own story. He knows the implications for the other man. _

_ He doesn’t care. _

_ It isn’t his… his… _

_ Sougo has been a lot of things, for Woz. He’s been a pawn, and then he’d become someone he wanted to serve, but it’s more than that. More than Woz could possibly admit to himself in circumstances such as these. _

_ “I will try,” Woz says. “Of that I swear.” _

_ There’s a sad smile that teases the corner of lips and eyes from them both, at that. _

_ Neither particularly believe he’ll succeed. Both want it, nonetheless. _

  
  
  


“Woz!”

The book caught most of the blow, once again broken as he dies. Nonetheless it knocks him back against the wall, out of his Rider form. Woz tries and fails to rise.

Woz wants to tell him something. Perhaps “no.”

Sougo has a job, he is a hero and worthy of becoming King. But he remembers the depths of Ohma Zi-O’s anger and he has sacrificed too much to allow that now.

“My… my Demon King,” Woz gets out. “Do not… do not become Ohma Zi-O… for my sake. I cannot… I…”

He knows what dying feels like.

  
  
  


_ Woz is leaning heavily on Geiz as he watches Sougo fight, for history and for heroes and for what even Woz himself has become. It’s a beautiful sight, except for the calm numbness which is slowly filling him from the deadly blow. _

_ “Do not tell him of my fate,” Woz says. “I wish him to believe I have disappeared with Tsukuyomi and yourself.” _

_ “Don’t say that,” Geiz growls. “Our king needs you.” _

_ “There is no other fate for me,” Woz says. “Eventually, betrayals catch up with you.” _

_ Geiz is silent for long moments. _

_ The last thing Woz hears before darkness consumes him is “this is why you betrayed us, isn’t it?” _

_ He doesn’t get the chance to say “yes”. Much less “I’m sorry.” _

  
  
  


“How can I…”

“You will be… a good king…” Woz says. “Beloved and… and kind.”

“Woz…”

Woz fights back the creeping shadows to smile.

“My… Sougo,” he says. “Your fate is yours to decide.”

  
  
  


Woz blinks. How is he alive?

The other Quartzers stand over him, and Woz quickly grabs out his Driver.

“We aren’t here to fight,” one says. “We just wanted to hear from you… why you’d choose the demon king over the timeline.”

Woz shrugs, pulling himself up. His book still bears the same title but now the contents feel unending and right.

“Kamen Riders… our job is not to be perfect,” he says. “In fact, it is our nature to be flawed. But most among us are heroes, heroes who have fought and suffered for the sake of human life and freedom and happiness. It is not our job to erase them.”

“And your new Demon King, Zi-O?” Another asks.

“I believe in him, as well.”

“You know no one will be able to revive you again,” a third says. “Not with your nature.”

Woz smiles, sadly.

“I am aware,” he says. “I will aim not to die, but my Demon King’s story is not yet over.”

  
  
  


…Woz goes limp in his arms, and Tokiwa Sougo feels his heart crack.

Tsukuyomi dies not moments later, and now Sougo finally  _ screams _ .

Myokoin Geiz watches Ohma Zi-O’s rise, and he wonders if the original’s had been so grief stricken.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


…Average High Schooler, Tokiwa Sougo.

You know, Sougo considers it. Go back, bring back those who deserve it, give people the endings they deserve. He reaches out, gives it slowly and in pieces.

And then he finally comes back to himself and his friends, and he realizes…

“Woz is gone,” he says, even though Ohma Zi-O had already faded away. “He doesn’t exist, he’s just…”

“Gone?”

Sougo turns.

“Woz?”

Woz smiles. He knows his form is false. It will not last, nor will he.

“I wish you only happiness… Sougo,” he says. “I am sorry I cannot chronicle your future.”

And then, forever…

He fades away.

  
  
  


(Gone forever, Sougo can’t make himself forget.)

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr @flaim-ita or @dancingqueen-mai for just Toku


End file.
